Is This Colorado's Most Beautiful Backpacking Destination? 

Right lol. I'm looking around for what trail this is and can't find anything lol

Overlook Point, southwest of Chicago Basin

Mountain View Crest

You should have to figure it out yourself, personally doing the research ensures you know the area and dangers before you go. It should not be just handed to you on a silver platter. Plus it's more fun discovering places for yourself, rather than following an internet recommendation. It's also bad for the place if half the internet starts showing up there all at once.

Welcome!

Glad you asked! We filmed exactly that, the video should be out soon. ✌️

Me too lol! I think everyone could use a backpacking buddy

That was a favorite of mine when I lived back East. It was my first backpacking adventure and then we went back multiple times.

Yeah I really need to get into the Sierras more! I might take your advice!

I've grown so tired of American mountain ranges being compared to the European Alps or Swiss Alps. I don't think mountain ranges and tectonics were thinking "Swiss Alps" when they were forming around the planet. It's such an overused cliche as cultures around the world have been bonding with their local mountains since the dawn of humanity. The Swiss did nothing comparable to the Incas and Machu Picchu, and check out the rice cultivation by the Vietnamese and Chinese in those gorgeous, green limestone mountains of Southern China and Northern Vietnam: they've been doing that for centuries, perhaps a millennia The US and rest of North America really only has one peer when it comes to overall mountains per continent: Asia, and that continent gets the nod, but not by much and pretty crazy considering the astounding number of taller peaks compared to N. America. But N. America has the vast greatness of the arctic and polar regions where mountains, glaciers, ice fields, tundra and wilderness remain much more intact than all but Antarctica. See the incredibly underrated mountainous landscapes of Baffin Island, Greenland, NW Territories, the Yukon and Brooks Range of Alaska. And Alaska is Alaska - the last frontier: unforgiving, intimidating, massively beautiful landscapes in constant transition. Thank you Russia. The Alps are the Alps, the Sierras are the Sierras and the San Juans are the San Juans, albeit a subrange of the Rockies. The first two are actually whole mountain ranges. The Rockies is nearly 5x the area of the Alps. The Alps is 2x the area of the Sierra Nevada. The Rockies remains far less trampled by humans and the number of protected Wilderness Areas continues to grow - THANK GOD. All three of these mountain ranges have genuine differences and their own spirit and array of spectacular uniqueness. In this case, the San Juans are a volcanic section of one of the largest calderas on the planet, a palette of colors you simply don't get in the Sierras or particular sections of the Alps. The San Juans also have a surreal blend into the most incredible collection of monoliths on the planet per square mile: the Colorado plateau into Utah and Arizona - checkout Courthouse Mountain, Cimarron Ridge and the flow into the Sneffels Range and Coxcomb Peak up above - that's a panorama only found in the San Juans compared to Sierras and Alps. Colorado is called the "colorful state" for a reason. The Alps, in so many places, offer sublime vertical relief and steepness, especially compared to much of the American Rockies. Alps are also rich in contrasting colors like San Juans, photogenic, elegant lines, but the color variation has to be cut and pasted from different sections to = the San Juans. Europe's great range for peaks similar to much of the American Southern Rockies lies in the Sierras of Spain and the mountains of Greece. My big disappointment with the Alps, various trips - too many people, too much civilization, but so many of the various cultures they have integrated are incredibly kind and graceful. The Alps mountain cultures are simply the gold standard on planet Earth in terms of recreation and modern lifestyle. The California Sierras, amazing, almost instantly recognizable type of granite, steep vertical relief and one of the greatest trees on the planets dots its slopes (Giant Sequoias), Tahoe is supreme, oh the waterfalls, Yosemite Valley breathtaking - the Alpen glow of the Sierras is something else. And you are right, the High Sierra routes (actually a few of them) are some of the great high routes of the world, albeit the Rockies' Wind River Range High Route will blow anyone away and it has such a particular vibe to it and sense of Wilderness that just doesn't quite happen in Sierras. Btw, look carefully at this video as the lush green valleys, basins of the San Juans actually have more in common with say the Swiss Alps, not the Sierras. You are more accurate when comparing the Sierras vertical relief with typical Alp's ranges. If you want to see some of the best views of the San Juans, check out Karl Decker Presents - a great climber and he nails the colorful, psychedelic landscapes of the San Juans. PS I am not from Colorado.

See below link, there you go, just one of many, many incredible clips that highlight how unique the San Juans are, oh the colors. Also look for clips of the Red Mountains (3 separate peaks). Karl has several other summit videos from San Juans released in the past month. Such an array of colors can only come from the massive volcanic activity and La Garita Caldera that shaped Western Colorado, Utah and Western New Mexico. The San Juans also contain some incredibly jagged sections in the backcountry: The Needles and Grenadier Range. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-5XKH2pdqogA.htmlsi=0P_1NiMjeT_NHRID

Correct. Overlook Point, southwest of Chicago Basin

South

Hahaha thank you!

Given the time they set off and the daylight, it definitely wasn’t 30 miles out. Fantastic location.

Bump

I wish we could but as far as I know, New Zealand still isn’t allowing Americans to come in. Am I wrong?

@@TheNypenfan touché not to worry once we get to the 90% vaccination point guaranteed we’re gonna be open many bussinesses rely on that tourism dollar. Look forward to getting visitors here by Xmas, fingers crossed.

@@TheNypenfan I thought Americans needed to be vaccinated to travel internationally as in off the continent travel

@@tooxtalivai0690 yes. But several countries just 100% ban Americans from coming right now. New Zealand is one of them.

I've been to New Zealand twice now but there's so much more I gotta do!

Thanks! Mix of DJI pocket and Sony A7RIII

Wind River and San Juans are both spectacular! I loved this spot because of all the layers of mountains. But you can't go wrong in the San Juans!

Spring through winter is pretty great! :) But for backpacking I'd say late summer.

Fr

I'm thinking he purposely didn't share that

He mentioned the Weminuche Wilderness. I was there this summer. Such an amazing area.

@@brianmcmurdie Any idea of the trail or do you have one that you could recommend? Those views…

It's true, I purposely did not include specifics on this location. Sorry, but I don't want to blast it out. The San Juans have a ton to offer tho and you can't go wrong!

We didn't need to do anything in particular. Bear activity was extremely low in this area.

Hey Craig! Unfortunately I was sworn to secrecy about the specifics of the place. Sorry about that. But they're in the San Juans!

@@BackpackingTV ... No worries ... I figured it out on my own ... It has been added to my bucket list of hikes to do ...

@@Colorado_Kkid would you like to privately share this info with me?

@@marcusaurelius200516 would love if you could share with me privately!

@@Colorado_Kkid any luck figuring this out? been looking for a couple hours...

It's the tungsten ultralight 3 person tent from Marmot!

I have in minor doses. I've been up pretty high before, nearly 20,000 get in South America. But luckily we didn't have any really affects other than not sleeping very well up there.

Overlook Point, southwest of Chicago Basin

Tech N9ne just released a track today and guess who had his debut, Dwayne " The Rock " Johnson. Mind blown 😳

I've already had a few offers for record deals. But I think I'm gonna hold out for the big time deals!

@@BackpackingTV 💪😎👍

Hmm. That's a good question. Permethryn from Sawyer seems to be quite effective. You can apply it to clothing and it's safe. Or find a tick-check buddy!

I've lived in Colorado my whole life and have never been bite by a tick!

@@jamesbrooks3664 trying to find the highest times when ticks are at they rampant. I’ve checked charts. But just trying to figure out the parts of the year. When an little extra protection is needed. This is for my daughter. She’s trying to discover a grizzly chipmunk 🐿 lmmbo. She’s not right in da brayn. She wants to try different areas to go hike of the country. Thanks for everything

Yeah buddy!

Glad I didn't scare you off!

She does! www.kristiscanvas.com and fineartnomad on IG

Overlook Point, southwest of Chicago Basin

heyo! Zing!